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Peter HarrisNorth East and Cumbria correspondent
Counter Terror Policing North East
The teenager cannot be named because of his age
A teenager has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years, with a further year of supervision, after claiming to have joined a banned neo-Nazi group.
The 16-year-old-boy from Northumberland, who cannot be named because of his age, was found guilty of being part of the paramilitary group The Base, which believes in race war and white supremacy.
He was also convicted of possessing and sharing terror publications and sentenced at Leeds Crown Court.
The jury was unable to agree a verdict on a charge that he was planning a terror attack on Newcastle synagogues and the prosecution said it would not apply for a retrial on that count.
Counter terror police raided the teenager's home in February 2025, when he was 15, and discovered an "arsenal" of weapons, including a crossbow, knives and a gas-powered air pistol.
Police said he was part of extreme right-wing online chat groups on platforms such as Telegram, Snapchat, TikTok and Wire.
The defence had told jurors the boy denied "he ever actually intended to carry out any act of terrorism" and they needed to consider his life experience.
Sentencing, Judge Wall said the boy genuinely held extremist, antisemitic views, and he experienced a difficult childhood, suffered bullying, was isolated and struggled with friendships.
He said the teenager must spend another 15 months in detention, having already been in custody since his arrest.
He will then be supervised and monitored in the community for another 26 months.
The judge told the boy, who attended court via a videolink: "You will have to do what you are told by the people who are supervising you and it will be their job to help you come to terms with what you have done and to stay out of trouble in the future."
The judge said the boy had an "unhealthy interest in weapons, wars and paramilitary items and this obsession led you to exploring the darker world of extreme right-wing organisations".
He will be subject to a criminal behaviour order which will restrict his use of computers and the internet.
PA Media
The jury was shown pictures of the boy's room taken by police
There had been an application by the media to name the teenager, which was rejected.
Ch Supt Kevin Waring, area commander for Northumberland, said: "We are fortunate to live and work within such close-knit communities, and we recognise the impact cases such as this can have on us all."
